1962 Buick Skylark - Dream Car Of The Month

The idea here is to engineer and place C5 Corvette running gear under the sheetmetal of a '62 Buick Skylark convertible, along with some kind of twin-turbo powerplant-you know, contemporary drivetrain thinking. The car should have big power along with aggressive road characteristics (outstanding handling and plenty of stopping power).

It's a step beyond the notion of a typical convertible resto-rod build, inspired more by the style of the Ford Thunderbird and Chevrolet Corvette roadsters that were making waves in sports car circles in the late '50s and early '60s.

The very low custom windscreen is laid back, along with aero-shaped rollbar/headrests that help define the cockpit feel of the car. The wheelwell openings have been slightly reshaped to give a slight wedge look to the car and to allow room for 18- and 20-inch kidney bean-style Halibrand wheels, which scream the competition look of the era. Of course you can't build a Buick without those cool Buick vents found on the upper sides of the front fenders. The ones I designed are a custom affair that overlap each other a bit and are machined out of billet as one unit.

Moving up to the hood of the car, there is no cowl vent at the base of the windscreen. Instead, the hood-which opens from the opposite direction like an early Corvette-goes all the way to the windscreen where it meets it flush. At the front of this car, a horizontal grille is machined out of stainless steel and features custom-fabricated hideaway headlights. The front and rear bumpers are modified to fit closer to the body, and custom roll pans are added front and rear.

The paint is a candy hue of blue and pearl white, selected because back in the day sports car racing sanctions like the FIA (international) stipulated that each car and team have a color specific to their respective countries. Germany, for example, was silver. The United States was blue and white. It's a nostalgic thing and fits the theme and intent of the car

This concept was discussed with professional builder Bob Bissonette from Spokane, Washington. Bissonette's new shop, Rod Builder's, is now in the process of turning this dream car into a high-end driver for a customer. They're shooting to have the Buick on the show circuit by the middle of 2005.